Woman's Work

An invitation from the McColl Center for Visual Art in Charlotte, NC, to "spin my thread" in a Gothic-style tower was the catalyst for creating "Woman's Work". Myth is filled with stories of a woman, usually a virgin, imprisoned in a tower by an authoritarian figure. My focus was on the pivotal moment when the woman elects to abandon the confines and safety of the tower and weave a rope ladder to ascend into the unknown. 

The mythic woman I envisioned spun so much thread that it began to escape the tower like a vine. I used the walls of the McColl Center to create a vine-like thread, emphasizing both the ascent to the tower space and the chaotic journey upward. Her existence transformed into a tree-like base from which she climbs to escape, symbolizing her struggle and triumph over confinement.